Food Matters Project #26: Veggie Stir Fry

This weeks host is Big Girls Small Kitchen College. It’s a blog written by college students across the country on how to cook, eat, drink and live on and off campus. There are a number of contributors that provide recipes and college stories. Today’s contributor, Jen, chose the Crispy Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken; check out her version of the recipe here. For all Food Matters Project contributors recipes, look under the comments section on this page.

I really enjoy making Asian food, especially since the home version is always healthier than the takeout! Although I glanced over Mark Bittman’s recipe in the Food Matters Cookbook, I decided to do my own version of this dish. First, we didn’t have chicken, so we enjoyed a vegetarian dish (you can also add tofu, chicken, beef or shrimp). Secondly, although the rice cakes sounded great- I just wanted some regular stir-fry. Sounds like everyone had some fun making the rice cakes, so check out Mark’s original recipe on page 324. I was going to add water chestnuts, which I forgot about- so definitely add that into yours.

Cook rice per package instruction. The cooked rice should yield about 2 cups.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp stir fry oil in a skillet. Once it’s hot, add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes. Next, add the garlic and carrots- cook for about 3-5 minutes. Then, add in the ginger and broccoli, cook for 2 minutes. Finally, add in the snow peas, jalapeño, fish sauce, soy sauce, 1 tbsp stir fry oil, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook all of these ingredients, while stirring, for about 5 minutes. If you don’t want your broccoli or snow peas to be crunchy, cook for another 5 minutes.

Place the rice on the plate, add the stir fry veggies. Then sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds. Serve with some chopsticks!